Jonah Hex Marks of the Demon
by kenxepe
Summary: Closer to the comic book version of Jonah Hex, actually. The Apache have branded another man with the Mark of the Demon. Now, that man is using cursed magic to get his revenge. The Apache must now seek help from its prodigal son, Jonah Hex, or face complete annihilation. But will Jonah help them, or help destroy them?


Jonah Hex Marks of the Demon

by

Kenxepe

Disclaimer: I do not own Jonah Hex or any trademarked character in this fan made story.

1\. Demon

Thought Ah was done with this place. Thought Ah was done with these people. What people ya' say? Ironically, ma' people, that's who. The Apache.

See, a very long time ago, ma' birth pappy sold me t' this Apache tribe. Don't quite remember if it was for safe passage through Indian land, or for a pile o' pelts. Don't much matter now.

The chief took a likin' t' me. Took me in as his son. But his birth son, ma' step brother Noh-Tante, did not like the idea so much.

T' make a long an' tragic story short, Noh-Tante and I became bitter rivals. And when we was old enough, we settled things once and for all...in a one on one tomahawk battle! Because, well...that's how we settled things in the Apache. Hey, we like the same girl. Tomahawk battle. I want your horse. Tomahawk battle. One last piece o' the pie! Tomahawk battle.

Now, ma' step brother decided to sabotage ma' tomahawk before th' fight, causin' th' handle t' break. I, on the other hand, decided t' reward his ingenuity by pullin' out ma' knife, an' stabbin' 'em t' death with it.

Unfortunately, this was seen as cheatin'. Ma' step brother sabotages ma' tomahawk, and I'm the cheater. Go figure. They saw fit t' punish me by pressin' a heated tomahawk t' th' right side o' ma' face, burnin' th' skin almost all th' way t' th' bone! They call this "The Mark of the Demon"!

2\. Home

After Ah was banished, Ah swore I would never ever have anything t' do with the Apache tribe again. And yet here I am, ridin' ma' loyal steed, General, right into their encampment.

"Injun was here the other day," the bail bond agent had told me as I collected ma' latest bounty. "Asked for you specifically. Probably because no other bounty hunter would be crazy enough to accept a job from a savage."

Hell, Ah must be crazy.

Playin' children suddenly stop t' stare at me in fearful curiosity. Their mothers, hurriedly draggin' 'em back inta' the safety o' their huts. But it 'aint the color o' ma' skin that scares them. Not this time. Naw, they recognize the mark.

"Daanzho! Ha annsi?" their leader, a rather chubby man, comes rushin' down his very large tent to greet me, his arms wide open.

I dismount, then give 'im a nod. That is the only courtesy I give him. He seems confused.

"Jonah, you don't remember me?" he asks.

I squint at 'im with ma' one good eye.

"Dasodaha?" I ask.

"Yes!" he exclaims, opening his arms wide again. Ah still don't hug him.

"They made you chief?! How in th' hell did that happen?"

"Oh, the last chief was murdered."

"You don't seem very broken up about it."

"Meh, he was a mule's ass. Come into my tipi!"

He calls on a young boy to see to ma' horse. Then he tells an elderly woman to prepare food. She glares at me once, but obeys. Hope she don't piss in ma' soup. Once inside his tipi, I remove ma' hat, and we sit Indian style on some animal hides in front of an open fire. He starts yammerin' excitedly about the old days. Maybe tryin' ta' butter me up fer sumthin'. I nod every once in a while. Think Ah even chuckled at one time. Guess there weren't only bad days with the Apache after all. Wonder why he still hasn't told me what I'm doin' here.

After dinner, he offers ta' smoke a peace pipe with me, which I accept.

"I remember this one time,..." he excitedly begins. But I cut him off.

"No more reminiscin', Dasodaha. Why am I here?"

"That is a very good question," an attractive woman, who I also recognize, answers as she angrily barges in.

Her entrance would've been more dramatic with a wooden door she could slam behind 'er, rather than a bison calf skin flap.

"Kushala," I greet her coldly.

"He is my guest," Dasodaha reasons with 'er. "And we need him!"

"He has the mark!" she counters. "Just like our enemy!"

"What?!" I ask, surprised. "Y'all went 'n gave somebody else th' mark o' th' demon?!"

"Jonah," Dasodaha answers somberly. "I think you should see for your self."

3\. Beast

It is already night when we exit the tipi. There is a low-burning campfire in the center of the small settlement, but no people in sight, aside from a few braves keepin' watch, that is. But I can feel their eyes on me, watchin' me with both curiosity and fear from within their tents.

They lead me down a path away from the hamlet, and into the darkness of the forest behind it, the only light comin' from a single wooden torch Kushala has brought with 'er. Ah put a thumb on the grip of one o' ma' Colt Single Action Army Cavalry revolvers. Just in case. These people have already burned me once. Literally and figuratively.

Then the silence of th' night is disrupted by the angry snarls of some wild beast! I instinctively draw, and scan the darkness for enemies!

Dasodaha raises a hand t' calm me.

"You won't need your guns, friend," he softly tells me.

"The hell I wont!" I respond roughly.

We continue deeper into the forest, the snarls gettin' louder, angrier. It's like the sound of it is reverberatin' off the trees, the ground, the very sky! I tighten my grip on ma' pistol, and I swallow hard. What horrible creature are we walkin' towards? Ma' common sense says we should be goin' in the opposite direction! We should be runnin'! But I follow them still. Partly because of some dark curiosity, and partly because of confidence in ma' skills. That whatever it is, whatever ambush they have waitin' for me, I would be ready!

I'm wrong.

Nuthin' coulda' prepared me for what, or rather who, I see.

"Brijmohan?!" I almost scream.

Brijmohan is one o' the elders of this Apache tribe. He served as my step father's advisor. Now, here he is, locked in a cage, foaming at the mouth, madly tryin' ta' reach for us with hooked fingers.

"You wanted to know what happened to the last chief, right?" Dasodaha asks me, Kushala's torch eerily lighting his features. "Brijmohan killed him, with his bare hands."

"What?! How?! He's like a thousand year old! His fingers shake when he tries ta' eat! Probably can't even wash himself! How in the hell could he kill a grown man with his bare hands?!"

"Bodaway," Kushala answers gloomily.

4\. Shaman

"Who in the hell is Bodaway?!" Ah ask, back at Dasodaha's tipi.

"He became shaman after your banishment," Dasodaha explains. "You probably met before, but I doubt you remember him. He was quiet in his youth."

"He created a kind of dark potion," Kushala explains angrily. "Something he learned from his studies of Norse myth. It is supposed to make our braves stronger, faster, and fearless!"

"It worked...in the beginning," Dasodaha continues for her. "Five youths were given this potion."

"They became faster than the fastest deer. Strong enough to chase a full grown stag, and force it down with their bare hands!" Kushala continues for him. They were beginnin' to sound like a couple. "And then...the madness."

As Kushala tells her story, Ah swear Ah could almost see it happenin' right before ma' eyes! I could see it in the shadows cast by the campfire on the buffalo skins that make the walls o' the tipi! I could see the braves, inhumanly powerful, then going feral! Turnin' on each other! Biting! Clawing! Attackin' friends and family like a pack of rabid dogs! Until they are finally gunned down.

This is some powerful shit we're smokin' in this peace pipe!

"There was no choice," Dasodaha croaks, in the brink of tears. "We had to put them down."

"Bodaway was punished, and banished from the tribe," Kushala declares.

"You gave him the Mark of the Demon," I hiss.

"Yes. A few weeks later, while in council with the chief, Brijmohan is mysteriously plagued by the same disease!"

"Bodaway cursed him!" Dasodaha angrily asserts, shaking a fist in the air.

"Hmph. So Bodaway tries to do somethin' good for th' tribe, and y'all burn the flesh offa' his bones, then banish 'im. Sounds familiar," I laugh bitterly.

"I knew he wouldn't help us," Kushala tells Dasodaha, but she was lookin' at me the whole time.

"Help you?!" I snap at 'er, as I get on ma' feet, and get in her face. "Part o' me thinks I should be helpin' him!"

Dasodaha separates us.

"Kushala! I told you we need him!" he repeats to her, then turns to me. "Jonah! We didn't do that to you!"

"Well, how'd Ah get this way then? Cut ma' self shavin'?"

"Yes!"

"Yes?! Well, Ah think I woulda' felt somethin' and stopped! Just what've you been smokin' in that there peace pipe o' yers?!"

"No! I don't mean you cut yourself shaving! I mean you did that to yourself!"

Ah was momentarily stunned by his reply. He proceeded to explain.

"You knew the rules before the tomahawk battle! You knew the punishment for cheating!"

"Noh-Tante sabotaged ma' goddamn ax!"

"I know that!"

"You knew?!"

"We all did! You were screaming it all throughout the battle!"

I am stunned a second time. "Ah thought Ah was just thinkin' it. Ah actually said he sabotaged ma' ax?"

"Well, you didn't say it like that. It was more like: Help me, Dasodaha! Help me, Kushala! He sabotaged my ax! The no good savage sabotaged my ax!"

"I did not say that!"

"Well,...actually, you kinda' did,...over and over again,...while Noh-Tante chased you around in circles." Kushala confirms meekly. "I was with a boy then. I had to pretend I didn't know you."

"Your father, the chief, started rubbing his temples in shame!" Dasodaha recounts. "And if things weren't embarrassing enough, you pulled out that knife-"

"Well what in hell was Ah suppose ta' do?!" I yell. "Let 'im kill me?!"

"Yes!"

I am stunned a third time. Dasodaha explains.

"Had you died, you would have died honorably, and join the spirits of our ancestors! When you killed your step brother with that knife, you became no different than he. You broke the rules, and you were justly punished for it! If you were ever truly an Apache, you would understand that."

I am unable to reply.

"The council was so enraged by your display of cowardice and treachery, that they originally wanted to give you two marks on either side of your face," Kushala adds humbly. "Your father managed to talk them down to one."

"Brijmohan suggested putting the mark on your ass," Dasodaha reveals.

"You know, he always looked at me funny," I disclose.

"He looked at all the young boys funny. We're going to put him out of his misery tomorrow morning. You can do the honors, if you want."

5\. Hunter

Early, th' next day, Ah adjust the saddle on General, an' prepare ta' ride off into the woods after Bodaway. The story they told me last night had a hand in convincin' me to take the job, but it was ultimately the gold reward that finally did the trick. I maybe a former Apache, but I'm a current bounty hunter. An' I got a reputation for takin' jobs no one else wants.

Ah check ma' guns: a pair of Colt SAA Cavalry revolvers, a Winchester rifle, and a twelve gauge double barreled shotgun, for the one hundredth time. Ah check ma' ammo, an' see if Ah have enough food an' water fer th' trip. Then just as Ah mount ma' steed, Dasodaha comes runnin' after me.

"Wait!" he calls. "You don't even remember Bodaway! How will you recognize him?!"

"Hah!" I laugh bitterly again. "I'm pretty sure I'll recognize 'em when Ah see 'em."

6\. Watcher

I don't recognize 'em.

It was not difficult trackin' down Bodaway. If an establishment is displeased with a salesman's product, what is the salesman to do? I'll tell you what. He sells the product to the competition. The Apache's greatest rival is the Kiowa. Ah speak the language, so it was easy to ask some o' them nomads if they had heard of a medicine man tryin' to sell some kind o' super elixir to the Kiowa. The fact that I had enough gold from the Apache ta' bribe said information outta them also helped some.

Now, I'm on top of a small hill, hidden behind some trees, pointin' ma' Winchester rifle towards the closest Kiowa campsite. A good bounty hunter always gets his man. A great bounty hunter could do it without any other casualties. I like ta' think o' ma'self as a great bounty hunter. Except Ah been watchin' everybody that's gone in an' out o' that camp for one whole day, an' I 'aint seen a single person with the Mark o' the Demon!

Ah was startin' ta' get impatient, an' considerin' sneakin' inta' the Kiowa campground, when Ah come up with the most brilliant idea Ah have ever had!

7\. Armageddon

"Look!" the Kiowa lookout atop a makeshift watchtower yells, pointin' right at me as I casually walk up the dirt road leading t' their encampment. "A white man approaches! And he's one ugly, mother-"

"Greetings!" I shout in their language, ma' hands raised. "I've come ta' speak with the Apache medicine man!"

Ah hear maybe a hundred rifles aim straight at me.

"Relax, ma' Kiowa brothers," I continue confidently. "As you can no doubt see, he an' I have somethin' in common."

"What are you talking about, white man?!" the brave closest to me demands.

"Aha...aha..." I motion to the burnt side o' ma' face, givin' him a closer look.

"Get away from me!" he shrieks. "That's disgusting!"

Now, I'm confused. It seems like they've never seen the Mark o' the Demon before! Did those Apache bastards set me up?!

"He is a bounty hunter sent by the Apache chief Dasodaha!" a familiar voice calls out from behind them.

The braves respectfully make way for the speaker.

"Kushala," I mutter.

"Of course. Who do you think poisoned Brijmohan for Bodaway?"

"So Bodaway convinced you to betray the Apache."

She laughs, "It's the other way around, Jonah! I was dissatisfied with the short sightedness of the Apache elders. Bodaway had provided them with a very powerful weapon. Who cares that five men died in the process?"

"She's tryin' ta' trick you!" I divulge to the Kiowa. "The super elixir is flawed! It'll make y'all go mad!"

Kushala laughs again, "We're not going to use the super elixir on ourselves, you fool! You're as short sighted as the Apache. You truly are one of them! We will poison our enemies, and let them destroy each other. First, the Apache, then the white man. And the land of our ancestors will once more be ours."

She goes inta' this long, boring speech, that I only pretend to listen to, about how brilliant she is, and how we're all a bunch o' idiots. I'm much more concerned with other things. Like ma' chances of walkin' outta this place alive.

Those are a lotta braves with a lotta rifles. But fortunately, they didn't allow me to actually enter their camp. So they don't have me surrounded. They're all basically in front o' me. Wedged in together by all o' them trees and tents, about only ten of 'em, Kushala included, have a really clear shot at me. Plus the lookout, that is. Should take them out first.

The dual colts in ma' holsters carry six bullets each. So I should really make ma' shots count. Aside from a pair o' tomahawks on her belt, Kushala seems unarmed. Not bein' an immediate threat, I can cross her out as a target. For the moment, that is. Ah do consider killin' just her to dishearten the others, but Ah doubt it'd work. Traitor or not, she's still not a Kiowa. Besides, she's only the middleman, or middle woman. Bodaway's the one they really need. The lookout is probably a good shot, but at this distance, he might miss.

"...and so,...in conclusion,..." Kushala is just about ta' wrap up her sermon. Some o' the Kiowa warriors behind 'er are startin' ta' doze off. Best make ma' move now.

I draw.

Nine men, closest to the surprised Kushala, fall almost at exactly the same time. A bullet in each of 'em. As I expected, the scared braves behind them run for cover. He-he... Scared braves.

Kushala, however, takes out one of her tomahawks, and expertly throws it at me! Shouldna' crossed her out as a target. Ah shoot the tomahawk in mid air! Lemme just say that again slowly just in case ya' missed it. Ah shoot...the tomahawk...in mid air!

Apparently, the lookout is a much better shot than I had given him credit for. He fires a slug right through ma' shoulder. Ah get knocked offa' ma' feet, but not before Ah catapult him off his watchtower by shootin' him two times in the chest in return.

"Kill him!" Kushala commands.

The scared braves finally get back their nerves, and start firin' with their rifles. But it's not so easy ta' hit a fast movin' target. Especially when that target is helplessly and gracelessly rollin' down a hill.

At the bottom, Ah dizzily scramble behind large rocks for cover. Takes me about two seconds ta' reload ma' guns, another t' check on ma' injury. It's not bad enough to stop me from fightin'. But they musta' thought it was, because several eager youths recklessly come runnin' down the hill ta' try an' finish me off! Without any decent cover, Ah easily pick them out one by one. Like shootin' empty whiskey bottles for practice. The remaining youths either scramble back up the hill, or hide behind some trees. They'll be bringin' their sharp shooters now, try an' blow ma' brains off from a distance. Gotta get back to ma' horse before that happens.

Ah holster ma' guns, and make a run for it! Their next sharp shooter quickly climbs up the watchtower to replace the one Ah shot down, but I got me a few seconds head start. Ah whistle. General comes a runnin' towards me.

"He's going to try to escape!" Kushala yells at the sharp shooter. "Shoot him now before he gets on the horse!"

She's wrong. Ah 'aint goin' nowhere. Ah still got a job ta' finish. General's just bringin' me th' big guns. Ah quickly pull ma' Winchester rifle free from the side o' General's saddle. The sharpshooter probably already has me in his sights by now. Ah turn, take a fraction of a second to aim, and blast the brains out of ma' second sharpshooter of the day.

It's total chaos in the Kiowa camp now. People are shoutin', runnin' around, evacuatin'. Like Armageddon has come.

Ah calmly return the Winchester, take out the twelve gauge double barreled shotgun, then casually stroll back up the hill. Back to plan A then. Guess I'm not a great bounty hunter, after all.

A brave with a rifle sticks his head out from behind one o' the trees. Ah put a hole in his face as Ah pass by without even givin' him a look. Don't really need ta' aim with this kind o' gun. The other braves scatter into the safety o' the woods. Ah let 'em go. Yeah, I coulda' shot 'em all in the back. Who knows? They might one day try an' get revenge for all the sons, brothers, and fathers I've killed today. But I'll worry about that when it happens. Ah wont take a man's life unless I absolutely have to.

Kushala meets me at the entrance t' the camp, tomahawk in hand. It's almost completely deserted, now. Part o' me wishes she had run away with the rest of 'em.

"Get outta here, Kushala," Ah warn her.

"No!" she replies firmly. "We will settle this in a Tomahawk Battle! Or are you truly the coward and cheat that your own people say you are?!"

Ah draw one o' ma' revolvers, and shoot her in the gut. She falls on her knees, and stares up at me with wide, confused eyes.

"Might as well be a coward an' a cheat," Ah answer her question. "Ah already got the mark."

Ah holster ma' weapon, then walk past her into the encampment. An' Ah don't even bother watchin' 'er die.

8\. Prey

Ah enter the largest tent in th' center o' the hamlet. There is a man seemingly waitin' for me inside. He is wearin' a buckskin shirt, chustai, moccasins, and a cloth headband.

"I remember you," he says calmly. "You are Jonah Hex. Kushala tells me that the Apache have hired you to kill me."

"You're Bodaway?!" I ask in disbelief. "Where the hell's your mark?!"

"That sick bastard Brijmohan put it on my ass! Here, take a look."

"Uh...no, no. You don't have to-"

He drops his pants, and turns around.

"Behold! Lay eyes upon the evil that our so called family has done to both of us!"

"Uhm...actually, Ah can't see it with all the wrinkles."

"Oh? Well, maybe if I bend down, you can get a better look."

"No, no, no! Ah didn't mean-!"

He bends down.

"That better?"

"Yep, yep. Clear as day," Ah answer, lookin' around the buffalo hide ceilin'.

He faces me.

"We are the same, Jonah. We both wanted what was best for the tribe, and were wrongfully punished for it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Pull your pants back up."

"I can be your brother! The brother that Noh-Tante should have been!"

"Seriously, pull your pants back up!"

"We should be allies! Join me! Let us take revenge on the Apache!"

"Pull your goddamn pants back up!"

"Brijmohan was the first! Help me destroy them! Then we shall start our own tribe-!"

I fire both barrels inta' him. His lifeless body is tossed clear across the room.

Before I get back on ma' horse, and ride off to collect the rest o' ma' bounty from the Apache, I tell Bodaway's corpse, "We did this to ourselves. If you were ever truly an Apache, you would understand that."

END


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